Last month, SupplyChainBrain broadcasted a webinar on Navigating The World of Parcel Shipping: Integrating Visibility and Compliance into eCommerce. Dave Albanese, Director of Solutions Consulting at Amber Road, and Dave Vannoy, Senior Vice President at ProcessWeaver, explored how global enterprises consolidate and optimize their international parcel shipments.
Viewers asked several questions throughout the webinar, and we have compiled our speakers' answers into a Q&A document. Here is a preview:
Q: How do you manage processing clearances on FCL (full container load) international loads containing parcel shipments?Dave Albanese: The customs clearance process is typically facilitated by your customs broker, so from a global trade compliance standpoint we want to provide the broker with all the representative product and transaction information in advance so that he can ensure the information is complete and correct and can be filed with the local customs authority. This process is the same, regardless of mode or how the goods arrive at the port.
Q: You mentioned documentation. What type of documents do you produce?Dave Vannoy: We look at documentation in the shipment execution space in a couple of different ways and there is some cross-over between Amber Road and Process Weaver. At the time we’re processing parcels, one of the documents that we refer to is the actual carrier compliant label (UPS, Fedex, DHL, Purolater) and that’s going to be a bar coded label that everyone is familiar with. But there are also situations where, in the case of our example, Miller Manufacturing is producing all these labels and they maybe drop shipping for a big retailer. In that instance, Miller Manufacturing would not appear on the return address because we are having a drop ship situation where the retailer’s name may appear on the labels.
The other labels we do a lot of are ones in which we’re trading information electronically via EDI with 856s and there needs to be an ASN label that is also applied to the box. In terms of other documentation, Dave referenced the other things earlier such as commercial invoices, shipper’s letter of instructions and shipper’s export declarations but we also do things like packing lists, bills elating, pro forma, dock receipts, things of that nature- we’re really not restricted. Dave, are there any documents that I’ve missed?
Dave Albanese: That was very comprehensive. The only thing I would add is that invariably, countries have specific requirements that sometimes are specific to commodities so in the event that specific documents are required, such as the example that I referenced with the US Fish and Wildlife Services, there are physical documents that need to be generated and submitted in conjunction or prior to customs entry. In the US there is a shift that is coming forward- there’s a new single window import process that is being implemented to streamline some of the existing hard copy documentation that is used today via the Automated Customs Environment (ACE) that’s going to be delivered. So there will be a reduction in some of the paperwork generated today but again, there are always country-specific or product-specific documents that need to be generated and managed as well.
Q: Are you able to provide the technology required to integrate the landed cost calculation into an e-tailer’s webcart?Dave Albanese: Yes. We have exposed web services that enable customers like e-tailers to be able to make calls into our content to get answers to their global trade questions. The ability to calculate landed cost is certainly one of those supported APIs. If you can provide us information about where the goods are being sourced from, where they are being shipped to, what those products are, and any additional transportation or freight costs, we can return a total landed cost calculation that can be integrated into your website.
Additionally, we have what we call easy classification APIs. Often those who have ecommerce websites aren’t experts in classification or don’t necessarily have their products classified in the same way as a manufacturer would, so the ability to look up a taxonomy of available products and branded products and easily assign a classification prior to the submission of landed cost is also an API that we support. There are a whole host of options we can discuss with companies that have that particular business need.
Q: What are you using to track a multi-leg shipment?Dave Vannoy: It’s sometimes very complex and other times not. Increasingly, global carriers are using web services so what we have created inside of our platform is what we call a shipping information gateway. This gateway helps manage not only the rating, the label producing, but also the tracking. We’ve kind of standardized on two or three different platforms where there’s parcel, heavier carriers, freight forwarders and it’s the utilization of web services: so the XML messaging back and forth, request and response from the carriers. In the freight forwarder world that tends to be more EDI so the real time nature of these tracking events will vary based upon the carrier’s technology. When we get into the movement of ocean goods there are providers that provide visbility and there are sources like intra and there are a few others as well, so what our framework gives us are these connectors to these various carriers, for really the sole purpose of getting the tracking request and updating the systems for the customer.
Dave Albanese: I referenced the supply chain visibility in our global logistics network previously. We typically integrate via these carriers through web integration methods such as EDI, standards for status messages, and as the goods progress through the shipping process we receive those updates and we receive those milestones in accordance to milestones that the customers are interested in receiving so working with the customer to understand how to build out a process that is manageable.
Sometimes one of the hardest things to do is understand what information the different carriers can accurately provide. Sometimes people get focused on trying to collect too much information and it becomes problematic, so providing some best practices, helping companies understand what carriers and logistics providers are able to do and then providing that logistics network to be able to collect that information as near real time as possible and provide them immediate feedback if there’s any deviations to the planned schedule.
Q: Where do companies typically start when implementing trade compliance solution?Dave Albanese: There are a lot of places companies could start. Clearly the most important thing would be to understand their environment and what’s most applicable to their business. Where is their greatest risk and greatest opportunity? If you are talking about export compliance many companies start with restricted party screening and getting a handle on their customers, being able to check if there are any concerns with the people that they are doing business with. On the import side, in many cases the best place for a company to start is to simply make sure that their products are classified. Once they are classified, share those classifications with their broker. This way the broker and importer are in agreement with what the products are so that accurate duties and fees can be calculated and complete entry information can be prepared. Once these building blocks are in place, the ability to expand into other areas of export and import compliance automation becomes feasible.
Click here to see all 10 answers in the Q&A document.
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This post was published on December 2, 2015 and updated on December 9, 2015.
